Florida editorial roundup

Recent editorials from Florida newspapers:

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May 2

Ocala StarBanner says cutting prison visits would further degrade inmates:

Sometimes it seems that Florida’s prison system is driven by a relentless desire to find new ways to degrade and dehumanize the inmates behind bars. So it should come as no surprise that the people who visit inmates are being subjected to degrading treatment, too.

Now inmates aren’t the only ones who must be strip-searched prior to visitation; it seems that their visitors must also undergo strip searches when anything - even a bra clasp - sets off a wand detector.

The reason for these strip searches, according to Florida Department of Corrections officials, is that contraband like cell phones, cigarettes, drugs and weapons has been finding its way into prisons more regularly.

While these searches are distressing for the people who must undergo them, what is even more alarming is an ongoing push by the DOC to limit visitations by family members and loved ones.

Months ago the department announced that it would be cutting back on weekend visits at its facilities. The idea was to limit inmate visits to every other weekend.

After family members rightly expressed their outrage, the DOC said it was dropping its intention to immediately enact the change pending a public hearing. But it hasn’t appeared to back away one bit from eventually authorizing the “every other weekend” plan.

This idea is a bad one. And it is dangerous.

Study after study shows that visitation by family members improves inmates’ behavior while behind bars. It reduces depression among inmates, particularly female and adolescent prisoners. And it may even increase the chances of released prisoners making successful transitions to life in the community.

In fact, a 2015 report by the Prison Policy Initiative says the positive results of visitation are so numerous that it recommended prison systems across the country enact policies that actively encourage visitation.

Former warden Ron McAndrew of Dunnellon, who now acts as an expert witness in prison cases, says visitation is crucial.

“Visitation is everything,” McAndrew says. “You take inmates who are doing life, they have absolutely nothing in their lives except maybe a visitor. You better believe me, they try to maintain the status quo so as not to screw up that weekend visit. It means everything to them.”

It is obvious that if Florida is serious about reducing in-prison violence and cutting repeat offenders, it should be encouraging visitations. Not discouraging them.

But according to the DOC, the increase in contraband and visitor searches has stretched the prison staff so thin that it is no longer practical to oversee visitations every weekend.

It is true that the department has been seriously understaffed for years - but one major reason is because the wages for correctional officers are far too low.

Florida also hasn’t done nearly enough to implement smart justice policies that would reduce the prison population, which in turn would help improve the ratio of inmates to officers. Georgia and Texas are among the states that have adopted forward-thinking prison reform legislation that works to protect public safety while also reducing the high cost of maintaining prisons.

Indeed, conservatives and liberals have been able to find common ground in supporting smart justice reforms. Why? Because they save money for the taxpayers. They treat prisoners more humanely. And they do a better job of rehabilitating inmates.

It’s time for Florida to put more effort into having a prison system that embraces this progressive approach, rather than one that seemingly revels in having a regressive “degrade and dehumanize” mindset.

Online: http://www.theledger.com/

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May 1

Naples Daily News doesn’t see the need for term limits:

Term limits have become popular fodder as the 2018 midterm election approaches. It’s become a topic at national, state, county and city levels.

The debate even filtered down to a Collier County Commission proposal to limit service on advisory boards, filled by citizens who volunteer their time to make recommendations to elected leaders.

In other words, this is getting out of control.

Let’s trust voters to weigh candidates on their merits and decide who they want to serve them, or when someone’s had enough time based on their degree of accomplishments or lack of same.

Why arbitrarily oust someone serving our community successfully to replace them with someone less effective?

Why let outsiders decide on local term limits when that’s essentially usurping home rule?

Why do we need to selectively target one local elective office in the Florida Constitution?

When elected leaders think someone has served long enough as an adviser, can’t they control that by not reappointing the person?

National, state

In a television commercial after launching his Republican bid for U.S. Senate, Florida Gov. Rick Scott stands beside a map, saying Washington is the only ZIP code that opposes term limits.

No doubt that’s an inference to presumptive Democratic opponent Bill Nelson, first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Yet in weighing Nelson versus Scott, assuming they survive the primaries, we’d urge voters against deciding based on the number of years served in the Senate or as governor. What matters is their positions on issues, what they’ve accomplished or failed to do with their opportunities and who can best serve us next.

Unfortunately, Scott’s term-limit jab at Nelson also becomes one at U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican in his eighth two-year term and seeking re-election.

Compared with others serving cross-state districts, Diaz-Balart has been one of the most engaged representatives for Collier County that we’ve seen. Two worthy Democratic opponents want his seat, so ultimately voters will decide if Diaz-Balart returns. Voters choosing based on individuals is preferable to an arbitrary term limit.

While we aren’t opining yet on constitutional amendments, we have serious reservations about a bundled one that limits school board terms to eight elected years. Why should voters in 66 other counties decide that question for Collier? Why single out the school board, excluding the county commission?

Locally speaking

Collier commissioners last week wisely ditched a proposal to set term limits for advisory board members. Those who put in years as tireless volunteers should be applauded if they’ve served well, not summarily dismissed by an arbitrary term limit when advisory positions are tough to fill.

We’ve previously questioned a Collier commission decision to impose term limits on future commissions, noting the absence of challengers to longtime Commissioner Donna Fiala. Why force out an elected leader via term limits if nobody else wants the job or doesn’t care to make an argument that someone’s time is up?

Bonita Springs City Council is moving forward a charter change to limit the years anyone can serve in total, meaning you can’t leave office and run again later. In Naples, such a move could have precluded Bill Barnett returning as mayor or Vice Mayor Gary Price from his recent reinstatement. That would have been a loss for citizens.

This particularly seems an odd argument in Bonita Springs, where four of seven council members had no opponent to gain their current term.

Yet, if that’s what Bonita Springs voters want it should be their decision. We trust voters. Term limits suggest they can’t be trusted.

Online: https://www.naplesnews.com/

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April 28

Sun Sentinel on a no-confidence vote on a Florida sheriff in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting:

On the surface, the dangerous divide between Broward Sheriff Scott Israel and the union representing deputies on road patrol appears to be all about money, which it is.

But beneath the surface is a troubling tension over the sheriff’s progressive philosophy of community policing - a philosophy that deserves our community’s support.

This week, the tug-of-war culminated in a “vote of no confidence” in the sheriff, affirmed by 534 of 628 deputies participating. The vote was an unsettling, unprecedented moment in Broward’s history. It means that about 40 percent of the union’s 1,300 members don’t trust their leader and want Gov. Rick Scott to get rid of him.

But it’s not that simple. Neither is it appropriate.

For despite his flaws, in this fight with the union, Sheriff Israel is on the side of right.

By contrast, Deputy Jeff Bell, president of the International Union of Police Associations Local 6020, miscalculated by scheduling a no-confidence vote before awaiting the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s investigation of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Before aiming for someone’s head, shouldn’t deputies first know exactly what happened?

Awaiting answers on Parkland

Without question, Israel has much to account for in BSO’s response to the shooting and the complaints it received about shooter Nikolas Cruz in the preceding months. That BSO school resource officer Scot Peterson failed to enter the building to stop the killing is reprehensible, as Israel has said. And questions remain about communication failures, about three deputies who remained outside during the shooting, and about a captain’s call to create a perimeter, rather than pursue the killer.

During an extensive interview with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board this week, Israel didn’t want to discuss the shooting, though he promised to answer all of our questions after FDLE completes its investigation.

But testimony before a state panel this week suggests part of the confusion at the scene was caused by the county’s fractured and troubled 911 emergency response system, which the cities of Coral Springs and Plantation refuse to join. As it turns out, BSO receives landline emergency calls from Parkland, but cellphone calls go to the Coral Springs Police Department. So when Coral Springs police arrived at the school, they knew what was going on inside, while BSO had to rely on Peterson.

We’ve had our differences with the sheriff, particularly after he came into office six years ago seeking a 14 percent budget increase. BSO’s budget - $872 million this year - consumes about half the county’s property tax revenues. Besides protecting public safety, we’ve encouraged the sheriff to also protect the public purse.

Israel also has developed quite a reputation for hiring friends and family from the political world. And he has an annoying habit of praising his own leadership skills, using words like amazing, unbelievable and excellently. He would be well served to stop tooting his own horn, particularly given the questions about his department’s performance in Parkland.

That said, in the big picture, Israel is leading BSO in the right direction and on a course that reflects our community’s values.

Israel’s progressive policies

Since he took over, violent crime is down in BSO-patrolled areas - from 21,750 incidents to 20,876. And burglaries are way down - from 5,085 to 2,876 incidents.

Unlike most Florida sheriffs, Israel has also vocally opposed legislation that would let people openly carry guns almost everywhere.

Most importantly, Israel has pushed progressive policies to de-escalate incidents before deadly force is needed; to require body cameras for deputies; to report all use-of-force incidents, not just those resulting in injury; and to give non-violent first-time juvenile offenders who commit petty misdemeanors - like graffiti or marijuana possession - a chance to avoid jail by performing community service, getting counseling or making restitution. Gov. Scott signed a bill making the “civil citations” program state law this year.

Some of these policies, however, have proven unpopular with some BSO deputies. The sheriff said things came to a head about a year ago, after he ordered all road deputies to carry at least one “less-lethal” tool on their gun belts.

“It’s such a critical part of who I am and what I want to do,” Israel told us. “It means, if you have a baton, or a taser, or bean bag, or a spray, you have another way of maybe dealing with a combative person . without having to go right to your firearm.”

Israel says the policy change incensed Bell, the union chief.

“He said, and I can quote here, ’I can’t believe you’ll make us carry another tool on our tool belt. That’s ridiculous and unacceptable.’ What really bothered me was when he said, ’You’re going to discourage people from using deadly force.’ I said, ’No, I’m not. . The use of force a deputy uses is dictated by the subject, not the deputy.’ He was very angry. I don’t know that we ever rebounded from that conversation.”

New union, big demands

About two years ago, the road deputies switched unions, replacing the Police Benevolent Association with IUPA, pronounced eye-oop-ah. Deputy Bell, the president of Local 6020, acts like the new sheriff in town. He clearly wants to prove his members made the right call by getting them more money.

The deputies are in the third year of a three-year contract, which allowed an opening to renegotiate if the economy picked up. IUPA pulled the trigger and asked for a raise. So did BSO’s other six unions, including its largest union, which represents deputies at the county’s four jails and Central Intake.

Israel decided to single out detention deputies for a bigger raise this year. He wants to begin shrinking their 13 percent pay disparity with road-patrol deputies, getting it closer to the 5 percent it was before the Great Recession.

It’s hard to explain the pay details, largely because the sheriff and union use different terms. But in addition to cost-of-living or merit raises, newer deputies also get a 5 percent step raise every year for nine years, while those with 20 years of experience get an extra 2 percent for “longevity pay.” There’s also a negotiated bump for “first responder” pay. And Local 6020 wants a bump to settle a grievance about deputies it says were shortchanged on unused sick pay on their way out the door.

But the bottom line, Israel says, is that Bell is demanding a 6.5 percent raise for 20-year deputies.

The nuclear option

“Maybe a month after Parkland, we were having a conversation on the phone and he was adamant. He said, ’I can’t go back to the membership with anything less than 6.5 percent. I want the same thing that detention is getting.’ I said, ’You’re actually asking for more, the same COLA, their parity step,’ and he wanted an additional 1.5 percent for first responder money. I said, ’We don’t have that kind of money and it’s unreasonable. I have six other unions to worry about.’ He said, ’I don’t. I only have one.

“He said, ’Well, we have a nuclear option available to us. It’s never been done before, but we can file a vote of no confidence.’ I said, ’You’re going to file a vote of no confidence over a labor negotiation because we’re not where we need to be financially?’ He said, ’Well, over Parkland.’ I said, ’But you and I have talked about Parkland, and you have been complimentary about me, and not speaking about it, and waiting for FDLE to conclude their investigation.’ He said, ’You can’t take a PR hit.’ That’s a quote. I said, ’So you’re going to try to extort a raise by telling me that you’re going to ask for a vote of no confidence?’ He said that’s what the membership wanted. I basically said, ’Do what you’ve got to do.’”

To hear Bell tell it, none of this happened.

At a press conference and in a phone interview, Bell said he never asked for a 6.5 percent raise. Asked if he threatened the nuclear option after the sheriff said the money wasn’t there, he said: “I will say it again in big capital letters: This sheriff is a liar.

“We told him there’s money for raises, We called his bluff. We hired an accountant at our own expense . and we proved, last year alone, we returned $100 million back to the county commission that was not used out of our own budget. So you tell me who’s being fiscally responsible.”

BSO’s budget director, Dafne Perez, says the agency returned $100 million to the county because it cannot hold money in reserve at year’s end. She said $33 million was committed to purchase orders or other encumbrances, and $35 million was for “transfers, reserves and post-employee benefits.” BSO will get back the money it gets from cities to provide services. Only $22 million applies to the county’s general fund. Of that, $7 million will go to a capital account for two new helicopters and a mobile command vehicle.

As for the nuclear option, Bell said: “No union ever wants to use the nuclear option . but you’re painting us in a corner because of your bad policies, your bad decisions.”

Unpopular new policies

Bell takes issue with the civil citation program. Though the sheriff says it reduces recidivism - and state lawmakers say it holds young people accountable without adversely affecting their futures - Bell says it ties deputies’ hands and puts students at risk for violence in schools.

He also says BSO lacks needed training for deputies, a concern we share; that a contract with NAPA Auto Parts doesn’t allow its deliveryman to get gas at BSO, as is happening; and that higher-ups have misused letterhead to get people hired.

Given their many concerns, why did the union endorse Israel for re-election two years ago? At the time, Bell cited the sheriff’s “strong leadership, morals and the continued commitment to the community and law enforcement.”

The deputies wanted to support the sheriff, Bell said, “but from that point forward, he’s been on a downward spiral. Policies that have come out have been detrimental to deputies. They cause unnecessary paperwork to protect them from civil liability in the future. And it further discourages deputies from going out and being proactive police officers in the street.

“You may say that crime is down, but look at how many arrests are lower than last year, as well. It’s because deputies don’t want to do anything out there because of the miserable policies that his staff has enacted.”

Bell seems to measure success by arrest numbers. We’d argue the crime rate is a better indicator.

Disaster on our hands

So what now? What does Bell expect to come from this no-confidence vote?

“I expect the citizens to start voicing their opinions up to the governor’s office,” he said.

He also wants deputies to tell the governor: “Governor, you need to listen to us. If you’re going to make a decision, or if you’re on the fence about which side you should go to, you need to take us into consideration.

“The leadership of this agency is only there for political reasons . and if you lost the faith of the men and women on the streets, you’re going to have disaster on your hands. And this will turn into Chicago and Detroit and cities like that, where crime is completely out of control.

“If another incident happens, this will be on the hands of Governor Scott, not on the men and women of this agency.”

This is scary stuff. Bell’s language sounds more threatening, than cautionary. He insists BSO deputies will uphold their oath to protect and serve. But we hear a dangerous subtext.

What would it take to heal this rift between the sheriff and his deputies?

Bell said the union met recently with BSO command staff about improving labor relations “and we walked out of the room saying they didn’t hear anything we just said.

“So at that point, change is the only thing that can happen to improve the working relationship between the deputy and whomever is at the head of the sheriff’s office.”

It’s alarming to hear the union chief say the only path forward is for the governor to boot the sheriff. It’s also concerning to hear deputies don’t want to carry devices meant to de-escalate the use of force.

Union leader’s swagger

It sounds to us like Bell wants to call the shots. But that’s not how it works. The citizens of Broward County elected Sheriff Israel - twice. And the governor cannot remove him on a whim. It requires a finding of malfeasance.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why this union, which enthusiastically endorsed the sheriff two years ago, took this no-confidence vote more than two months after Parkland.

It’s trying to take advantage of the sheriff’s dark hour to try to extract more money from taxpayers.

It’s not like road-patrol deputies are poorly compensated. Deputies with 20 years of service make $90,800, plus overtime. They pay just $1,800 a year for family health insurance. And if they retire after 25 years, they get 75 percent of their final salary every year.

Without question, patrol work is risky business. But so is jail work. Two of Broward’s jails are named after detention deputies killed on the job.

Where we stand

In this stand-off, we side with Sheriff Israel and believe our community should, too. We support his proposal to more fairly compensate jail deputies. And we believe IUPA showed poor judgment in publicly embarrassing the sheriff to try to grab more money.

Frankly, we’re pleased to see the sheriff protecting the public purse. We also believe his progressive view of policing is right for our community. Now we need deputies who support what he is trying to do.

And in the end, if Bell and some number of deputies cannot support the sheriff’s path, they should leave.

Online: http://www.sun-sentinel.com